Pistol packing teachers in several states are gearing up for the school year

ARGYLE, Texas – Despite attempts by gun control advocates to weaken our 2nd Amendment rights after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, teachers in several districts have been trained and will be armed in the classroom this school year.In January, the Argyle School District in Texas voted to arm some of its teachers should the need arise to protect their students.

According to WHNT19 News, “some Argyle teachers will act as the long arm of the law under the state’s Protection of Texas Children Act.”

The new state law allows schools to designate workers, including teachers, as “marshals” who will have access to firearms on school property. The law requires the workers to undergo a psychological exam and 80 hours of instruction, including handgun training and active-shooter drills.

Republican State Representative Jason Villalba wrote the law and says it is modeled after the federal air-marshal program.

The Argyle district teachers who will be packing are required to have and maintain a handgun license, pass a psychological evaluation, and undergo firearms and emergency response training.

In Missouri, the Kansas City Star reports that 10 Missouri school districts have received intensive firearms training at Shield Solutions near West Plains. More Missouri districts recently signed contracts with Shield Solutions and others are currently in negotiations.

Shield Solutions instructors are all current law enforcement officers, and the training is specifically geared toward the school environment — “essentially close-quarters combat while youngsters scream and run about”.

To avoid harming innocents in the area during a threat, teachers are instructed to never use ‘overloaded bullets’ which have the potential to pass through a target and hit someone else.

Although not going so far as to consider arming teachers, the Compton School Board in California voted to allow select campus police officers to carry semi-automatic AR-15 rifles onto school campuses.

According to RT.com, the school board cited concerns over “the national school shooting epidemic and potential acts of terrorism” when voting in July to “allow certain school district officers to buy these rifles and hold them in their cars should a mass shooting or terror attack occur”.

The district will train the chosen officers, who will then carry the firearms in their cars starting September.

As confirmed by the Washington Post, according to a list maintained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety, there was an astonishing 74 school shootings in the 18 month period following the Sandy Hook incident. Shootings at K-12 schools during that time totaled 39, and an additional 35 shootings took place at colleges and universities.

Since 2012, at least 9 states have enacted laws allowing employees to carry firearms on campus, the first state being North Dakota.

At least some parents in Texas have said the Argyle School District is right on target in allowing teachers to carry; and the Warsaw School District in Missouri reports that, after advising parents of the plan to arm some of their teachers, they have received zero negative responses.